my $4000 dream ring

[jauhara]

Hi all!

I''m back now 1 week later, much more educated and now obsessed with diamonds. You may remember me as the person who posted the hideous ebay 2ct i2 that I thought looked "opally". Hee.

Well, 1000 websites later and I have been put in my place. My newfound love of all things shiney (thanks to whiteflash tutorials) has also made my budget majically grow from $3000 to $4000.

So with that in mind, I had intended to find an ideal .8 and put it in a pave halo. Simple. But then I saw a craigslist ad for a 1ct GIA g color si2 round brilliant solitaire for $2200. The seller is a private party and wants to meet me in a jeweler of my choice and claims to have all the paperwork. He says he doesn''t know anything about the cut. I''m thinking to heck with it, what do I have to lose? I might as well have hubby go and check it out with a jeweler right? I have very low expectations. But even "fair" cut g si2 GIAs go for $3500, right? Oh well anyway. We''ll see.

Meanwhile I found the setting that I love Love LOVE. (can''t link to it so I''m attaching the picture).
He says I can have it in 18k for $1975. Which it is totally worth. But its over budget. So my next question is: Has anyone seen a setting like that for less than $1700?
I know $200 shouldn''t be a big deal, but remember, i''ve already stretched my original budget $1000. Actually the thing I love most about that setting is the band. So even if it didn''t have the halo I wouldn''t mind. Though I guess I do prefer the halo.

Ok guys, thanks in advance, I look forward to seeing what you think about my setting !

 

[jauhara]

here''s the setting

 

[jauhara]

from the front

 

[jauhara]

profile

 

[mrssalvo]

why not get a WF diamond in your price range so you can get the setting you just love? I personally would rather have a smaller ideal stone from WF than the a mediocre 1 carat from Craig''s list. Did the seller give you the info off the GIA cert? if you can give us the numbers we can tell you what type of stone it is. Wf offers an upgrade policy too so if you ever wanted to trade and go bigger you can do that with them.

as for the setting, I doubt you''ll find a high quality pave setting with that much detail for $1700. who is the maker of the setting you posted? all pave is not created equal and a pave ring that is not extremely well made will have problems down the road so you want to make sure that you are buying something of great workmanship.

 

[akmiss]

That is alot of pave work and I would be afraid of losing stones due to poor craftsmanship. You could easily get a quality halo setting from a reputable source for $1975. I would always choose quality over quantity.
Look at www.idjewelryonline.com/engrings.php and see if there is a similar setting. Good Luck

 

[jauhara]

I don''t know, I did talk to the jeweler, and he was extremely nice and open. His feedback on Ebay is fantastic...I mean all the comments are not just positive, people are raving. And his designs are all beautiful. If I hadn''t bumped into this one being "the one" I would have had a really hard time choosing.

I think pave is a bit of a risk no matter what.

 

[mrssalvo]

if you buy the ring from ebay, what kind of warranty comes with it? many designers offer warranties on their rings so if a stone falls out they will replace it for free. call me a skeptic but ebay jeweler makes me wary no matter what the seller feedback. But, if you are comfortable and you are sure this is THE ring than by all means you should get it and maybe save up a bit more so you can get the appropriate sized center stone?

 

[Dreamer_D]

I am going to be blunt -- you get what you pay for. That setting involves detail work that costs a lot of have done well I am afraid. There are lots of ways for ebay sellers to get rave reviews without actually delivering quality goods, do a search on "ebay" here on PS and you will see some threads.

 

[neatfreak]

Having seen the name of the person when you posted it before, I HIGHLY suggest that you look him up on toolhaus. The feedback certainly does not look stellar there-in fact far from it.

Toolhaus is a great resource because it gives you ALL the feedback including all the negs and neutrals that sometimes are hidden on ebay.

 

[mrssalvo]

neatfreaks suggestion to look up the seller on toolhaus is an excellent one. that style of ring is popular right now. have a look at pearlmans and go to designer Beverley K. all of the rings can be made in WG and the price point and quality/workmanship is excellent. you can even talk to them about a center stone b/c many times you can get a better price if you buy a stone and setting from the same vendor. tell them you are a pricescoper too!

 

[mrssalvo]

here''s one example:
http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/jewelry-designers/beverley-k-jewelry/rings/104PP1/

 

[yssie]

Date: 2/16/2010 6:11:49 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
I am going to be blunt -- you get what you pay for. That setting involves detail work that costs a lot of have done well I am afraid. There are lots of ways for ebay sellers to get rave reviews without actually delivering quality goods, do a search on ''ebay'' here on PS and you will see some threads.

+1.


I would expect a quality setting of that design complexity to be well over 3k, more like 5k.. you really don''t want to be dealing with a poorly made setting that has stones falling out all the time, it''s a hassle and all those replacements/prong reworkings/ minor adjustments become costly!


A poorly or even "fairly" cut 1ct may face up the same diametre as an ideal 0.8ct, and also look dull and less sparkly. Remember, carat stands for weight, not size.. there are plenty of ways to hide weight so that it does not translate into size.


I would call one of the many PS vendors and see what they recommend. You can get a fantastic performer that''s not H&A and save a little there, and often if you get stone and setting from the same vendor one will be slightly discounted.

 

[jauhara]

I''m not buying off Ebay. I found the setting from the jeweler''s website, but found his ebay page when researching him. I did look him up on toolhaus, thanks for the suggestion. He had two people upset about getting diamonds with large inclusions. However, I think if you are looking for a good deal and particularly if that "good" deal takes you to EGL si2 diamonds, then you have to be prepared for some major inclusions. So that doesn''t concern me a great deal. Because I''m not buying a diamond, I''m buying a setting.

I emailed the craigslist diamond guy for his GIA cert number. I will wait and see if he gets back to me. I''m not at all into brand name anything, so I''d much rather have a GIA 1ct g si1 vg or higher than a .7 WF for the same price. Call me crazy.

I did look at the beverly paves and everywhere else too. My runner up favorite was this one http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/ring/item_412-2243.asp
which I can''t afford. And this one http://www.sunjewelry.com/er3583.html but I don''t like that one as much. And I was dispointed when ID jewelry raised the price of the setting I picked by $200. It was still cheap, but I hate it when the advertising says one thing, but then you call and its another price. But I may go back to IDjewelry in the end.

The point is, I love that setting to where I really don''t care about the price and I don''t care if I have to feed it diamonds or Cz''s every month. I love it. love. I haven''t seen anything, not even one of those crazy 10000$ settings that I love as much.

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 2/16/2010 8:44:50 PM
Author: jauhara

I emailed the craigslist diamond guy for his GIA cert number. I will wait and see if he gets back to me. I''m not at all into brand name anything, so I''d much rather have a GIA 1ct g si1 vg or higher than a .7 WF for the same price. Call me crazy.

The point is, I love that setting to where I really don''t care about the price and I don''t care if I have to feed it diamonds or Cz''s every month. I love it. love. I haven''t seen anything, not even one of those crazy 10000$ settings that I love as much.

sounds like you answered your own questions! please come back with pics once you get your ring.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 2/16/2010 8:44:50 PM
Author: jauhara
I''m not buying off Ebay. I found the setting from the jeweler''s website, but found his ebay page when researching him. I did look him up on toolhaus, thanks for the suggestion. He had two people upset about getting diamonds with large inclusions. However, I think if you are looking for a good deal and particularly if that ''good'' deal takes you to EGL si2 diamonds, then you have to be prepared for some major inclusions. So that doesn''t concern me a great deal. Because I''m not buying a diamond, I''m buying a setting.

I emailed the craigslist diamond guy for his GIA cert number. I will wait and see if he gets back to me. I''m not at all into brand name anything, so I''d much rather have a GIA 1ct g si1 vg or higher than a .7 WF for the same price. Call me crazy.

I did look at the beverly paves and everywhere else too. My runner up favorite was this one http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/ring/item_412-2243.asp
which I can''t afford. And this one http://www.sunjewelry.com/er3583.html but I don''t like that one as much. And I was dispointed when ID jewelry raised the price of the setting I picked by $200. It was still cheap, but I hate it when the advertising says one thing, but then you call and its another price. But I may go back to IDjewelry in the end.

The point is, I love that setting to where I really don''t care about the price and I don''t care if I have to feed it diamonds or Cz''s every month. I love it. love. I haven''t seen anything, not even one of those crazy 10000$ settings that I love as much.

Just as a point of clarity, we don''t give a hoot about brands either, we just value cut quality and WF sells diamonds of known quality for cut.

 

[yssie]

Date: 2/16/2010 8:44:50 PM
Author: jauhara
I''m not buying off Ebay. I found the setting from the jeweler''s website, but found his ebay page when researching him. I did look him up on toolhaus, thanks for the suggestion. He had two people upset about getting diamonds with large inclusions. However, I think if you are looking for a good deal and particularly if that ''good'' deal takes you to EGL si2 diamonds, then you have to be prepared for some major inclusions. So that doesn''t concern me a great deal. Because I''m not buying a diamond, I''m buying a setting.

I emailed the craigslist diamond guy for his GIA cert number. I will wait and see if he gets back to me. I''m not at all into brand name anything, so I''d much rather have a GIA 1ct g si1 vg or higher than a .7 WF for the same price. Call me crazy.

I did look at the beverly paves and everywhere else too. My runner up favorite was this one http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/ring/item_412-2243.asp
which I can''t afford. And this one http://www.sunjewelry.com/er3583.html but I don''t like that one as much. And I was dispointed when ID jewelry raised the price of the setting I picked by $200. It was still cheap, but I hate it when the advertising says one thing, but then you call and its another price. But I may go back to IDjewelry in the end.

The point is, I love that setting to where I really don''t care about the price and I don''t care if I have to feed it diamonds or Cz''s every month. I love it. love. I haven''t seen anything, not even one of those crazy 10000$ settings that I love as much.

Like mrssalvo said, you seem to have answered your own questions

If you really don''t care about needing to feed it CZs... one more idea is to get a beautiful, lovely, well-made inspired setting by a reputable vendor - one which you won''t need to feed every month. It''ll cost most of your budget. Then stick a gorgeous CZ in there until you can exchange it for the well-cut real deal.

Ditto dreamer - we don''t like these vendors b/c they''re name brands - in fact, they''re mostly unknowns still - BN is really the only online diamond vendor people commonly know of! We like them because they specialize in well cut stones, they have fantastic customer service, and you can be sure you''re not going to get cheated.

 

[akmiss]

Can you tell me what it is that you love about the setting? Because, to be honest, it looks like a setting made in China. LOGR sells settings like these on eBay for much less than the asking price. Search LOGR on PS for some examples. Here is a link to the eBay store. Don''t take this the wrong way because the setting is pretty and I am trying to understand what you really want.
http://stores.ebay.com/Lord-of-Gem-Rings


Antique Engagement rings have a couple of gorgeous rings right at your price point too. A different look but at least the center diamonds are a decent size.
http://antiqueengagementrings.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?page=4